Membership Program

DPLA’s Membership Program is an opportunity to work together more effectively to achieve the common goal of bringing the riches of our nation’s cultural heritage organizations to a broad, engaged public. Request more information about Membership

Membership Details

Fees

$10,000/year; $12,500/year for multi-state Hubs

For the initial three year term fees will not change

After the initial three year term fees will be evaluated with input from the Advisory Council and DPLA Board

Benefits

Regular published ingest schedule for each member (3-6 times/year)
Ingest of Member Hub metadata (assuming no changes in schema or endpoint from the Member) on a regular, published schedule, with frequency agreed upon jointly based on frequency of changes to Hub data.

Member analytics dashboard
Dashboard showing use and other analytics data related specifically to content from the Member Hub.

Participation in member working groups/task forces
Option for staff and others affiliated with Member Hub to participate in working groups and task forces established by the Advisory Council.

Involvement and inclusion in curation projects
Member Hubs will have opportunities to provide input on content of curated resources such as exhibitions and browsing lists, and potentially collaborating with DPLA on development of these resources.

Member-proposed initiatives to solve common problems across the network
Through the Network Council and Advisory Council, members will surface issues to be addressed collaboratively and prioritize the efforts of the network.

Hub Network Members Meeting
Opportunity for two participants from each Member Hub to attend the annual multi-day Hub Network Members Meeting, with no registration fee.

DPLA community website/wiki
Hub Network site to support individual and collective work of the Hubs and facilitate communication across the network.

Availability of programmatic interface (API) for access to enhanced data
Development and maintenance of API that allows innovative reuse of data held in DPLA by developers, researchers, and others both within and outside the network.

Initial training and onboarding for Hubs
DPLA staff provide training, documentation, quality assurance testing, and consultation for new Hubs in support of their initial ingest.

DPLA Local
Package to create DPLA local site, by providing a custom API feed and customized template (not ready at launch).

Governance

The Hub Member Network will introduce a formal participatory governance structure, which will allow more effective communication and collaboration across the network and increase transparency of decision-making.

Members can participate in governance through involvement in the following councils:

Network Council – A governing body responsible for nominating and electing members to the Advisory Council. Each member will have one seat on the Network Council.

Advisory Council – An elected body that works closely with the DPLA staff to advise on member initiatives, new opportunities, and strategic directions DPLA should consider to better serve its network. The Advisory Council will be responsible for approving working groups.

DPLA Board of Directors – Network representation on the DPLA Board.

Working Groups and Task Forces – Working Groups and Task Forces will be established to assist in implementation of DPLA/network initiatives; surface network-wide issues/priorities; provide input to DPLA at key decision points; and/or facilitate information sharing across the network.

Why join the Member Network?

DPLA brings together a rich, unique collection of millions of items from dozens of Hubs and thousands of contributing institutions. Since its inception, millions of people, from young students to retired lifelong learners, have taken advantage of the free and open resources that DPLA provides in collaboration with the Hub Network. DPLA is focused on maximizing access to the nation’s shared history, culture, and knowledge. Collaboration advances the impact of our network, leading our users to deeper engagement with and understanding of our shared culture.

The DPLA Hub Network is a unique nationwide collective working toward the common goal to bring the riches of our nation’s cultural heritage organizations to a broad, engaged public. Together, we inspire collaboration and help build capacity among institutions of all types, sizes, and resource levels. As a network, we can achieve what each of us could not individually. Through projects such as Hydra-in-a-Box and RightsStatements.org, we’ve worked together to identify and solve common issues.

The DPLA Hub Membership program allows us to fully realize this potential by giving Hubs a formal voice and increased ownership of the network. Through membership, we can work more effectively together, ensuring that the network remains vibrant, engaged, productive, and focused on the highest priority needs of its members. Sustainability of the network benefits us all.

Shared Values

The work of the member network is grounded in our shared values:

A passion for expanding the reach of openly available materials

A dedication to constructive collaboration

A commitment to working at scale to advance the work and impact of the cultural heritage community as a whole

A belief in the value of equitable access to information as a public good